Tom Cruise to Star in MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Remake for MGM

Though it seemed for a minute there that Tom Cruise wasn’t going to come back from Oprahgate (aka Couchgate, aka The Day Tom Went Crazy), the actor is doing a damn fine job of lining up some high profile pictures as of late. He plays a rock star in this summer’s musical Rock of Ages, he recently wrapped the Jack Reacher adaptation One Shot,he’s currently filming Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi epic Oblivion, he’s set to follow that up with Doug Liman’s sci-fi actioner All You Need Is Kill and may be teaming with Robert Downey Jr. for El Presidente.

Cruise also has a few sequels/remakes on the horizon as he’s attached to star in a reboot of Van Helsing, he’s being courted to return for Top Gun 2, and Clint Eastwood wants him to star in a redo of A Star Is Born. The actor is adding another remake to the pile, but this time he’s taking on a bona fide classic: The Magnificent Seven. Hit the jump for more.

Variety reports that MGM is developing a remake of John Sturges’ 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven with Cruise attached to star. Apparently the actor has been keen on remaking the pic for quite some time now, but it could be a while before we see the Cruise-infused Magnificent Seven on the big screen as the film isn’t in the actor’s immediate plans. That said, he intends to take the lead once the pic finally does come to fruition.

The Magnificent Seven was, itself, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 classic Seven Samurai and featured an all-star cast lead by Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, Horst Bucholz, and Eli Wallach. The titular seven refers to a band of American gunfighters hired by oppressed Mexican peasants to defend their homes from banditos.

I’m interested to see whether Cruise will surround himself by other A-list actors or if he’ll play the “lead” in the remake, relegating the other roles to supporting players. He’s an interesting choice to star for sure, but with the film in the nascent stages it’s still possible that the remake could go through some major changes. MGM is on a remake kick with RoboCop, Carrie, Poltergeist, WarGames, Death Wish, Valley Girl, and Red Dawn all in various stages of development. Watch the trailer for the original film below.